Literary Birthday – 7 July – Jeff VanderMeer

Some questions will ruin you if you are denied the answer long enough.

Imbuing fiction with a life that extends beyond the last word is in some ways the goal: the ending that goes beyond the ending in the reader’s mind, so invested are they in the story.

Literary influences are harder for me to point to, because mostly it’s a mulch of all of my past reading.

A dream inspiring a story is different than placing a description of a dream in a story. When you describe a character’s dream, it has to be sharper than reality in some way, and more meaningful. It has to somehow speak to plot, character, and all the rest. If you’re writing something fantastical, it can be a really deadly choice because your story already has elements that can seem dreamlike.

The music I listen to while writing is really scene-specific. It’s just a great motivator, a way to put myself in the mood.